It’s just another biophysical marker that you can use. Granted, it is more direct than Heart Rate based training, but still there are external influences (ambient temperature etc) that make it hard to interpret a reading

Still, this sounds convincing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LEsS0jAfQY

Recently, I got a tip about a Polish distributor selling the Cera-Chek Lactate meter. It is sold on the Polish market for a very reasonable price and also the strips come at about half the price of the competitors. The Polish distributor was initially a bit reluctant to sell to the Czech Republic (hello single European market!), but in the end he agreed to sell.

The device arrived on Friday and yesterday I did my first successful measurement, a baseline measurement before exercise, quietly sitting down and taking time to do everything right. This practice made me actually quite nervous for the real testing during and immediately after rowing ergometer exercise, because it showed that some practice will be needed to get fast and accurate readings:

I need to prick deep enough with the lancing device. I find it very hard to get even the tiniest amount of blood after the stab. Then one is supposed to wipe clean the finger and wait for the second drop. Milking the finger to speed up the process is said to distort the readings, but with the blood flow in my right hand fingers, it is really a question of minutes.

You need to get enough blood sucked into the strip to do a reliable measurement. My understanding is that the strips have a chemical substance that reacts with the lactate and then the device just measures the current between two electrodes. The magnitude of the current is then converted to lactate concentration. What happens if there is not enough blood? Do you get an under-reading?

You need to measure fast. On the Free Spirits Forum, I read that the pros do a measurement in 30 seconds. This includes a routing of finger drying, finger washing, finger drying, finger stabbing, droplet wiping, strip preparation, application of second droplet, and taking 10 seconds to get the reading. I would be lucky to do all this in two minutes … and of course the body continues to flush lactate from the muscles to the blood, then flush it from your blood. You have to be consistent to be able to compare measurements.

The test I wanted to do was the “long step test”. Basically you do 10 minute segments at increasing power, after which you measure blood lactate. You want to start a little below a power that gives 2.0 mmol/L, and end above it, so you determine the steady state power at which you train as close as possible to 2.0 mmol/L, which is believed to be most effective steady state training using a polarized training plan.

So what steps to use? I had a few clues of course:

From my spiro tests I knew that my ventilatory threshold is about 234 W at 150 bpm.

I have been fitting my season’s bests to a simple model using a “steady state” pace that I could sustain for hours and a limited “anaerobic” buffer that one empties during the test. A very crude model, but it is quite good in predicting paces on test pieces (just like the old “double the distance, add 5 seconds of pace). This model gave me 211 W as the steady state pace. Suppose this would be equal to my Maximal Lactate Steady State, than this would correspond to a blood lactate level between 3 and 4 mmol/L, which is also the recommended “intensive steady state” level recommended by many authors.

My 2k SB is between 90-95% of Greg Smith (Quantified Rowing) in terms of Watts. He devised this test and runs it between 175W and 210W using 5W increments.

Difficult to decide. Starting at 160W and using 5W increments would bring me to 195W in 5 steps. That would probably be enough, but what if I hit 2.0 mmol/L already in the first step? Or if I wouldn’t hit it at all?

Here is what I decided to do:

Row 10 minutes at 160W/165W/170W/175W, taking 2 minutes of rest to try and attempt a lactate reading. At 175W, I would do the following:

If just below 2.0, take another 10 minutes at 180W, then

If above 2.0 at 180W, continue with 10W increments

If not above 2.0 at 180W, continue with 5W increments

If above 2.0, do next 10 minute intervals at 185W/195W/205W/220W

Sounded like a good plan.

I will follow up with a blog post about how the test really went. I will also publish a separate review of the Cera-Chek later. Here is a little teaser:

My lactate meter is on its way to me. UPS says it is in transit and on time, and has left Krakow, Poland, an hour ago. Exciting times. It will be interesting to see if I have been doing my steady state rows at the right intensity.

I have the feeling that I am rowing at a lower heart rate than a year ago, and I tried to compare “beats per km” which would slightly eliminate the pace effect … Beats per km was mostly above 600 in the 2014/15 winter, and mostly around 590-600 in this winter season. Could also be different clothing, or a different humidity/temperature etc.

Here are some pictures from yesterday’s run that I discovered on the internet. The guy with nr 416 was the guy I tried to run towards to during the second loop. I didn’t make it all the way to him but he was a good target. I am #313.

A national holiday today. Last event in my test week(s). The 10km run in Jehnice, three bus stops from my home. For some reason, I skipped this event in 2014, but this year I participated.

First, the kids run. Dominik came last on the 1000m which is a quite intensive run. The first 500m is a steep climb. Then a loop around the cemetery and then a steep descent. Robin was somewhere in the slower half of the 600m run.

Then the 6km. Lenka ran and finished 279th place but happy with the effort. 35 minutes and a few seconds.

The 1ok consists of a 1k segment, then two loops on Rakovec hill, and then the 1k segment again. Here is the Strava record of my run:

https://www.strava.com/activities/434324951

It’s nice to run an event with a few more Strava users. I set a personal record on the Rakovec – Koně segment. Also, I clocked 47.07 for the run, which is 41 seconds faster than two years ago. I ran negative split. Started to push the pace a bit on the first climb and passed quite a lot of people. Then relaxed on the descent and started to push the pace harder on the second climb. The climb is that Rakovec – Koně segment mentioned above. In the first loop I did it in 12:26, in the second loop I managed 12:03. My previous PR was 12:31. This is 2.6km with an average climb grade of 3%, 91m of climb in total.

Good effort.

In the afternoon I visited a local food market.

It was very nicely situated in an old rail cargo building. Good atmosphere. Nice food to taste.

Test evaluations

VO2 Max vs Peak Power. The ideal is 40-45%. My value is 50%.

Anaerobic threshold vs VO2 max. The ideal is 80-85%. My value is 81%.

I didn’t do a test to determine aerobic threshold. The “Rowing Faster” book recommends a 60min to 75min full-out steady state row. Greg uses his power at 2.0 mmol. I am sure he can row a fater full-out 75 min steady state than the 195 W he uses.

The Jehnice run tells me I am in better general fitness shape than 2 years ago (or perhaps running a little more often). My anaerobic threshold vs VO2 max is in the right ballpark. I may be able to improve on my 6k a bit. Peak Power is too low and could be improved.

Conclusion: I am on the good path with my current training schedule. I expect that adding the strength training into the mix makes me row my 2k at a lower percentage of my peak power, which will make it a more sustainable effort. I hope to improve my 2000m score in the coming winter.

First a group photo with the Honeywell Aerospace Advanced Tech Group. This group started in 2006 and will soon celebrate it’s 10th anniversary. I joined in 2007 and I am leading one of its departments (about 50 people). From 1 person in 2006 to 150 people, located in Prague, Brno and Toulouse, in 10 years and still growing!

A couple of us posed for the photographer

After the picture taking I had to rush back to work, to the airport in fact, for ongoing flight testing.

Today was just picture taking and talking to the team for me. Tomorrow I will fly … yay!

6km test

Doing a test week in the fall is a good thing, and I already did the “1 minute test”. What’s left is a 2k test and a 6k test.

Originally, my schedule called for another very useful steady state session, but today I decided to be a bad boy and ignore the training plan. 6km testing OTW has been a staple for me in September and October, so in the evening I sat down, did a warming up of 2k with a few bursts, plugged a few pace boats into RowPro and set off to row the 6000m.

Until 1500m to go I rowed at the edge of breaking my PB. But to break a PB, one needs to be fresher than I am after a long working day and having done 90 minutes of endurance work the day before. Perhaps I also need a bit more pace discipline.

This time a year ago, I did a slightly cowardly 23:00.0. Happy I can crank out a 1:52 pace 6k now.

The 2k will have to wait. I may row it on Sunday or Monday. Tomorrow I will travel to Toulouse, returning Friday late. On Saturday, I promised to run with the girls. It will be a reconnaissance run for an event that we will partake in on Tuesday. They will run the Ladies 5k. I will run the 10k. It’s a hilly run close to my home, and the girls should do it once to pace it.

I cycled home from work. First I was chased by the 77 bus but it was faster. Cycling along the trolley bus route of #33 I noticed full bus stops. Indeed, a few stops later, the 33 bus was chasing me. It’s a very simple game. The trolley bus aims to overtake you at the narrowest part of the street between two bus stops, preferably where a car is parked or there is another obstacle. When it arrives at the next stop, you overtake the bus.

Here is a picture of one of those buses along one point of my route:

I arrived at the railway station before #33. The next part of the commute was competing with trams, which is less exciting because they don’t do lateral movements.

At home, I shifted to the erg. I signed up for a “genfit” row at 8pm and had time to do a 15 minutes before. Eleven km in total.

Nothing special. Just steady state. I listened to an e-course during the row. Interesting, although I had lapses where I focused on the rowing or my mind wandered elsewhere so I missed a few points in the lecture.

Just rode home from work on the bicycle. Because of the darkness, I decided to try a new route, straight through the center of the town. My traditional route is less busy but also has a few bike paths that are badly illuminated. I have enough lights on my bike to be seen, but I cannot use it to avoid holes in a dirt bike track in the dark.

It was better than I thought. I ended up riding at about the same speed as the trams, and faster than the cars.

https://www.strava.com/activities/426401831

In time, it is not longer.

Thursday

30 minutes on the erg, just a slow row.

Then three rounds of “weights” at home, using body weight and the Bodylastics(TM) bands.

Biceps Curl (blue band)

Squat (black band)

press up

sit ups

pistol squat

pull up

squat (black band)

dips

dorsal raise

“bench press” (blue band and actually “inclined chest press”)

row (orange band)

15 repeats for each exercise (15 per leg for the pistol squats) and three rounds. I had to look up the fancy English names for some of the exercises, so I hope I got them right. “Pistol squat” is what I would call in prosaic Dutch “kniebuigingen op een been” (knee bending on one leg).

The strength training took me about 40 minutes to complete. I am wondering if I should do one longer session per week or three 15 minute ones after the extensive steady state OTE rows.

In the nerdy section, I worked on my excel list of strength exercises. I have more than hundred of them now. I have information on recommended weight and equipment needed and main muscles trained. Then I created a pivot table which will come in handy when I need to improvise a weight/body weight circuit. It will be good for inspiration when stuck a hotel. Within a few seconds I can create a suggested list of workouts given the equipment available, ordered by muscle group worked. Probably doesn’t save a lot of time, but I enjoy creating something that gives the impression of being organized.

I had steady state on the schedule and originally planned to do a 3x20min row. Then I found a 15k planned row on RowPro at exactly the right time. Signed up for it. There were two of us.

Lost connection at almost 4km in. Lost some time trying to reconnect during the row.

After 10k my podcast stopped, so I had to switch on the radio. I really need to sign up for some educative listening. I checked “the teaching company” as recommended by Greg, but was overwhelmed with the choice of courses, and the price of the more interesting ones. I guess I will just sign up for a cheap one with good reviews and try it out.

When I completed the row, I got a RowPro window telling me that the connection was lost during the row, and that was it. No option to save stroke data. So I am left with just the bare data.

Average HR 143 bpm. Average pace 2:08.2 including the breaks. Most of the time I was going at 2:04 – 2:07.

On Friday morning I will get my annual flu shot. I have been trying to get information about training on the day of the flu shot. My original plan has a strength session there. Romana tells me I should take total rest. I am thinking of moving the weights session to Thursday and do a gentle row on Friday. Any thougts from the readers?